Law and reality in publishing (seldom the same thing) from the author's side of the slush pile, with occasional forays into military affairs, censorship and the First Amendment, legal theory, and anything else that strikes me as interesting.
Look to the Left, Then Look to the Right…
and in the fantasyland of some constipated old white men who were law professors in the 1970s and earlier, one of the three of you won't be there. (Note: Law school academic-failure rates at most ABA-accredited schools are seldom as high as 10%.)
In any event, it's that time of year when new law students panic and ask practicing lawyers how to get through law school. So, here's my contribution, for whatever it's worth.
The single most important class you're going to have in first year is Legal Research and Writing. It's the only class that every lawyer is guaranteed to need every day. That said, if it's graded on a pass/fail basis at your school, you should put greater "marginal effort" into graded classes—but, whatever you do, don't blow it off. It's a sad truth that this profession, which lives and dies by the written word, as a rule can't write a coherent shopping list. The better your writing (and research) skills, the better a lawyer you will be.
The second-most important class you're going to have in first year is Civil Procedure. I had the advantage of coming in understanding that in a fundamental way: In a military operation, the rules of engagement often determine the outcome. Civil Procedure is the equivalent of those rules of engagement. In my experience, over 80% of all non-criminal disputes (and even a substantial proportion of pure transactions) turn on questions of civil procedure as much as on underlying facts or specific legal principles. Even if you hate it, consider taking some more-advanced civil procedure courses—and I do not mean "moot court" or "trial advocacy"—such as conflict of laws and complex litigation.
Don't set your heart so much on becoming one particular kind of legal specialist that you don't study anything else. In the last couple of weeks, I've gotten several e-mails from law students who want to know how to get into copyright law, or publishing law, or entertainment law. I didn't start out there; I started out doing consumer protection litigation. For a variety of reasons (such as scheduling), I didn't even take copyright law! Instead, get yourself a broad foundation in areas that every lawyer must understand to be effective.
Civil procedure (as noted above), including evidence
Taxation
Administrative law
Business organizations, including both corporations and agency/partnership
Bankruptcy
Intellectual property at some level
Then there are all of the other "foundational" courses that extend a little bit farther, and from which you should definitely choose some: international law; property and environmental law; employment law; tort law; constitutional law beyond the required class; finance, securities, and commercial transactions; criminal law; and so on. Some students simply won't be interested in some of these areas, or can't work them in due to scheduling conflicts. That's doesn't mean one is "defective" as a lawyer—just that one's horizons are more limited, and one is less likely to develop solutions outside the box.
Speak up in class. If you have problems with this, better to overcome them (or determine that you can't) as soon as possible. Remember—the most that a professor can do to you is demonstrate that he or she knows the material better than you do. If your ego/confidence can't take any setbacks at all, what are you doing in law school in the first place? (Note: This is not an excuse or rationalization for mean-spirited attacks by professors or other students; it is a recognition that you're going to need to find a way to cope.)
Build "curiosity time" into your schedule. Read material concerning things you're not familiar with (see Professor Madison's careful consideration in ten parts), even during school. My best 1L grade came when I blew off last-minute cramming and read a non-law biography the night before the exam.
Finally, don't make one mistake that I did: If you have health problems, get them taken care of and let your professors know. Believe it or not, there aren't that many constipated old white men left in legal academia; if you bring a problem to the professor's attention early, something (such as taking an exam two days late when one has taken one's spouse to the hospital) can be worked out. But if you don't say anything, you're stuck.
Ritual disclaimer: This blog contains legal commentary, but it is only general commentary. It does not
constitute legal advice for your situation. It does not create an attorney-client relationship or any other
expectation of confidentiality, nor is it an offer of representation.
I approve of no advertising appearing on or through
syndication for anything other than the syndication itself; any such advertising violates the limited
reuse license implied by voluntarily including syndication code on this blawg.
Current Poll
None at present.
Archives
Warped Weft
Now live at the new site. I have arranged some of
the more infamous threads that have appeared here
by unravelling them from the blawg tapestry (and hopefully eliminating some
of the sillier typos). Sometimes, the threads have been slightly reordered for clarity.
The Public Library of Law can help you
find the law... but not use it in court, as many of its resources are not in proper form and do not provide
all of the citation information needed in court papers
Legal, free e-books are available through
Online Books (University of Pennsylvania)
and Shakespeare (MIT)
Legal, free music is available through
ClassicCat.net
(what kind of music do you think you'll find here?)
These may be of interest; I do not necessarily agree
with opinions expressed in them, although the reasoning and writing are almost always first-rate (and
represent a standard seldom, if ever, achieved in "mainstream" journalism). I'm picky, and have
eclectic tastes, so don't expect a comprehensive listing.
A blawg is sort of like a blog on legal issues, but
usually has a lot more links to outside resources (other than other blogs) than does a typical blog.
Scrivener's Error is a blawg, not just a blog. You can find other blawgs at <?law blogs#>.
How Appealing
is aimed at appellate lawyers and legal
news in general. If you care about the state of the law, start here — Howard's commentary is far
better balanced, better informed, and better considered than any of the media outlets. To
concentrate on the Supreme Court, don't forget
SCOTUSBlog.
Some academics' blawgs with a variety of political (and doctrinal) viewpoints:
BoingBoing, by speculative fiction writer
(and 'net
activist) Cory Doctorow, is quite hostile to copyright enforcement efforts, particularly
regarding file-sharing
The main European IP blawg of interest remains the UK-based IPKat, on a variety of intellectual property issues, with some overlap (with a
less Eurocentric view) at IPFinance
Cyberlaw (Stanford) has its agenda
grounded firmly in the so-called "digital commons," which might make a bit more sense if any of the
advocates of that viewpoint understood diddly-squat about population ecology
The American Constitution Society blawg
is a purportedly "liberal" counterweight to the so-called
"Federalist Society" (which, despite
its claims, should be called "Tory Society") that has yet to establish much coherence... but maybe
that's all to the good.
![[self-portrait]](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_aph-FWKPAtw/Sb7dbBwgg0I/AAAAAAAAAAU/xefH94KcXQA/S220/LawShark5204a.jpg)
Scrivener's Error
at 1024x768.